DALLAS – Ron Springs and Everson Walls will always share a bond forged over their years as teammates on the Dallas Cowboys. That’s nothing compared to their newest link – the kidney Walls donated to Springs.

Springs and Walls were recovering at Medical City Hospital on Thursday, a day after the transplant operation – the first between two former U.S. professional athletes.

“That’s brotherly love,” Springs told the Associated Press in December. “It’s something you can’t explain, but something that I will always think about every day for the rest of my life.”

The former football players and their doctors are scheduled to hold a news conference today. The players hope they can inspire others to become organ donors by sharing their story.

The only other known transplants involving former pro athletes as donors include Greg Ostertag and basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson. Both donated kidneys to relatives.

The 50-year-old Springs has suffered from diabetes for 16 years and has been on the national transplant waiting list since 2004. The disease has led to the amputation of his right foot and the big and middle toes on his left foot, and caused his hands to curl into knots. He also was forced into a wheelchair and needed dialysis three times a week.

Providing his body accepts Walls’ kidney, Springs will no longer need dialysis and can expect his hands to regain their normal form.

“It’s like getting a new battery in a car,” Springs said in December. “I’ll be able to be back to basically almost 100 percent normal.”

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